Background

Background

My Left Brain Life

My years as a single mother raising a fabulous son found me making a career in banking.

From 1974 to 1979, I worked my way from teller/clerk up to Assistant Branch Manager at Citizens Savings Association in Moberly, MO (later to be swallowed up by Community Federal to be swallowed up by Boatman’s Bank to be swallowed up by NationsBank to be swallowed up by Bank of America).

My move to St. Louis, MO in 1979 kept my banking career going with United Postal Savings Association (later......Mercantile Bank, later......FirStar, later…..US Bancorp.). During my tenure at UPSA, which lasted until 1991, I advanced from Processing Supervisor in the lending department to Vice President of Mortgage Operations where we were the largest residential mortgage lender in the metropolitan area.

My departure was luckily timed. I was able after 17 years to make some important decisions as to where I wanted to go next, which was most definitely following my long postponed desire to pursue art.

My Right Brain Life

Since 1992 I have been studying and working at finding my niche. I have studied at Washington University; worked in a fine art glass gallery, taken a landscape workshop with Kim English in Aspen, CO; and studied privately with Robert Anthony Ketchens.

I have also owned and operated a business designing and creating beaded/semi-precious stone jewelry which I exhibited both locally and nationally in juried shows.

I now focus solely on oil painting (and my grandchildren) and am finding great satisfaction.

CV Record

Juried Competitions Include:

12/97 St. Louis Artist’s Guild, Nexus II Common Threads

12/97 Art St. Louis XIII, The Exhibition

10/99 West County Art Fair, St. Louis, MO

09/01 St. Louis Artist’s Guild, The Road Show

06/02 2002 Gallery Fleur: A Fusion of Flowers & Art

4/03 Women’s Caucus For Art, Beauty

9/04 Nu Art/Nu Visions, presented by The Center for Human Origin and Cultural Diversity, University of Missouri- St. Louis

05/05 The Foundry Art Centre, Landscapes

9/05 Nu Art/Nu Visions, presented by The Center for Human Origin and Cultural Diversity, University of Missouri- St. Louis

Agora Press Release

Carla Dawson’s work is an evolution and development of traditional Impressionist ideas. The work takes on the challenge of the outdoors, the world of nature, and the life that comes through in the spirit of reflection. By intensifying the contrast among colors and laying heavy but carefully selected brushstrokes, she creates emotional works that are simple in concept but masterful in style. Her works emphasize what is basic and alive in nature. Her technique allows the vitality of her paints to be a force in bringing the work to life. The works are at once both a commentary on and a reflection of the miracles and simplicity of the natural world. Abandoning a career in banking to follow a calling in art long-postponed, she began workshopping her skills in landscape painting at Washington University and opened a business in designing her own jewelry. She now has dedicated herself to oil painting exclusively. Participation in recent exhibitions and juried competitions has brought Dawson a following that awaits the directions her talents will further take her.